The Eight Pillars of BIM Level 2 – Part Two

The original mandate for Level 2 Building Information Modelling (BIM) incorporated seven pillars. Since the publication of PAS 1192-5:2015 there are now arguably eight pillars which make up a Level 2 BIM project. In order to be truly Level 2 BIM compliant here are the remaining four processes and associated documents that should be incorporated into your projects.

Pillar Five – BIM Protocol

The Construction Industry Council (CIC) BIM Protocol is a legal addendum to design and construction contracts that allows parties to share data within a contract when working to BIM Level 2. It establishes specific obligations, liabilities and limitations on the use of project models. The addendum also states that the client appoints an Information Manager with their primary role facilitating the management of the federated model. Development of the federated model and the process of managing this model is crucial to the entire BIM process. Using IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) adds a common language for transferring information between different BIM applications. This highly collaborative workflow process defines responsibilities, ownership and level of detail, whilst maintaining a clear definition of model ownership.

Pillar Six – Government Soft Landings

The Government Soft Landings (GSL) is a form of soft handover which incorporates the operational team into design decisions. The design team are also on hand after completion to assist with the handover and learn lessons from the real everyday use of the asset.

Pillar Seven – Digital Plan of Works (Levels of Detail) and Validation Tool

The Digital Plan of Work (DPoW) outlines the information requirements for any constructed asset, new or existing. The DPoW aims to provide clarity on how built asset data is defined, tested and successfully used by the supply chain and the public client to achieve BIM Level 2 on all publicly procured assets.

Pillar Eight – Classification

The UK government commissioned a unified classification system (Uniclass) for team members. A single classification system enables electronic project data to be indexed and structured to be accessible and searchable. Uniclass 2015 is divided into a set of tables which can be used to categorise information for costing, briefing, layering, etc. as well as when preparing specifications or other production documents.